Are you prepared for Fly-tipping Friday tomorrow?

Reporter

Families have been warned to resist the temptation to dump unwanted rubbish as Britain prepares for the busiest fly-tipping weekend of the year.

This Friday could see record numbers of fly tippers across the country according to a leading expert in waste disposal.

As the nation returns to work and school following the Christmas break many households are still dealing with discarded packaging and sackfulls of wrapping paper.

Yet with many council bin collections services disrupted by the New Year break many families will feel tempted to take matters into their own hands to get rid of their unwanted junk.

Rather than dump waste during daylight hours, many prefer to do so under cover of the night and expert Harsha Rathnayake believes this Friday evening could see the peak of the problem.

Mr Rathnayake, CEO of London Junk, says Friday and the following weekend will be the biggest fly tipping period of the entire year as frustrated households grow sick of overstuffed bins.

Mr Rathnayake is warning households to ensure they are fully informed of their council’s bin collection schedules and to resist the urge to take matters into their own hands.

He believes local authorities should be doing more to offer additional services at this time of year to ease the problem.

He said: “The issue of excessive waste is one that is unfortunately growing each January particularly as cash strapped local authorities are forced to provide minimal services over the holidays.

“This leads to a huge problem for homeowners as they watch mountains of cardboard packaging, wrapping paper, bubble wrap, plastics, glass and tons of food waste pile up and spill out of bins up and down the country.

“This creates a ticking time bomb of fly tipping temptation as many are unable to resist the urge to throw their rubbish in the car boot and dump it somewhere else.

“As the New Year break ends and families get back to work and school, the temptation to dump rubbish can be very powerful. Yet doing so causes untold harm to the environment and can be very dangerous indeed.

“Bigger families are likely to feel it the worst of all, and with bags of rubbish piling up on doorsteps there’s no wonder desperate mums and dads look elsewhere to take waste.

“Fly tipping causes all kinds of health and hygiene hazards, not to mention the grave threat it can pose to our natural environment and wildlife.

“It’s certainly worth doing some research to find out more about waste collection companies in your area, as many will be offering their services across the holiday season.”